


You Are Enough

by the_strange_bookworm



Series: A Day In The Life of Mileven [2]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, Nightmares, fluff/angst, the rest of the kids aren't really in this, they're just mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-29
Updated: 2017-01-29
Packaged: 2018-09-20 15:41:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9498776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_strange_bookworm/pseuds/the_strange_bookworm
Summary: A month after the events of 1984, the Demagorgon and bad men are gone, and Eleven is safe and sound. But she is far from recovered and when she wakes up from an especially bad nightmare, Mike is there to help.Basically, the very overused "El has nightmares" concept that I couldn't help writing about.





	

**Author's Note:**

> HI IT'S THE BOOKWORM! First off, thank you soooo much for all your great comments on my first two fics. I've actually had this account for a while now but i was hesitant on posting stories bc i didn't know if they were even good but now i'm more confident! Second, sorry this took so long, i just had midterm exams and on top of that writer's block sooo yeah. Anyway, enjoy!
> 
> PS. This was inspired by prompt #24: "I know it doesn't seem like it, but I'm going to take care of you." from valbirch's prompt list on tumblr

"Papa?"

El stared at the man before her, the same as she always knew him, crisp dark suit and white hair and emotionless face. Her father, the bad man.

"Yes, Eleven," he said. "It's your papa. Come, I'm going to take you home and everything will go back to normal. _Trust me, Eleven_."

His voice, it sounded so comforting and reassuring. She was almost tempted to follow it. But she knew better now. Fathers don't experiment on their daughters or lock them in cells. Mustering up her courage, she fixed him with a cold stare. "No," she plainly stated.

Brenner's face changed to a look she's seen time and time again. Disappointment. "Very well," he said.

  
As if on cue, El suddenly heard a familiar cry. With sickening realization her eyes grew wide. _Mike._

And he was calling for her.

She looked around her dark surroundings in panic. She tried to run, to get to him, but where was he? All around was the emptiness of the void. And that horrible screaming. It sounded like it was coming from everywhere. She felt the tears on her cheeks as she called for him.

She turned to look at Brenner, to at least find a hint of mercy in his face. But he only stared at her with a cold glare that quickly morphed into something else, a nightmare. The Demagorgon. She had one last vision of it lunging at her before waking up in a cold sweat, Mike kneeling right next to her on the couch, shaking her shoulder and saying her name in her ear.

El cried into Mike's arms for what felt like hours, the horrid vision still stuck in her mind. "It's okay, it's okay, it was just a dream, you're alright," he murmured into her ear. He kept saying that as she sobbed. For a panicked minute, she thought that she'd lose him, that he'd be the one to disappear this time and she'd hear those painful cries again. She clutched on to him so tightly she knew she probably left nail marks on his skin. But then she looked around.

She remembered now. She, with the rest of the gang, were sleeping over at Mike's basement after an extra long D&D game. It was the winter of '84, barely a month since she got back. There were no more bad men or monsters chasing her. But she still got nightmares about them almost every night.

As she calmed down, they still held on to each other, taking the time to enjoy the other's warmth. "Are you okay?" Mike spoke, stroking her back comfortingly, although he knew it was a stupid question. El nodded and wiped away the remaining tears.

A silence stretched over the room. Mike felt like he should say more, only he didn't want her to relive the details of her nightmare. He had a clue what it was about anyway. He knew that even gone, the Demagorgon and that asshole Brenner could still hurt her, at least in her mind. And after all she's been through it just wasn't _fair_. But he held his tongue and kept this to himself. Then suddenly, as if reading his thoughts, El spoke.

"It was papa," she whispered. Mike felt the familiar anger boiling inside of him, and took a deep breath to calm himself. But El went on.

"He wasn't hurting me," she mumbled tearfully. That wasn't true, her heart felt like it was on fire. "He was hurting... _you_. I could hear you...you were screaming...in the dark place. And I couldn't find you, then papa looked at me, and he became...Demagorgon."

She said the last sentence shakily with tears streaming down her face, and buried herself deeper into his shirt. Mike didn't know what to say. This was the first time she ever mentioned him in her nightmare, so he simply hugged her tighter.

The anger had come back even stronger than before, but beneath that was a quiet despair. He whispered little things like, "Oh El, you have no idea, no idea what I'd do, what I'd give so that you'd never feel this way again." But he heard no change in the sobs that shook her body and felt tears of his own form at the corners of his eyes.

"El," he said after a while. "Look at me." She raised her head to look at him, her eyes red and puffy. "I'm not going anywhere," he told her. "No matter what, I will always be right here with you."

He paused, slightly unsure of the truth of his words. "I know it doesn't seem like it, but I'm going to take care of you. And I don't know if I can be enough but it's what I'm gonna do. Always."

She stared at him with glossy tearful eyes and slowly nodded. "You are enough," she whispered.

Mike immediately felt a weight on his shoulders lift. She sniffed and wiped her nose. "I'm sorry..for waking you up," she said.

He shook his head. "There's nothing to be sorry for."

El smiled at him and he grinned back. Then she snuggled into his side on the couch as he shyly put his arm around her and sighed. Slowly, he began to drift off to sleep, soothed by the sound of El's soft breathing and steady heartbeat.

He still couldn't believe it, that this girl who had disappeared from his life a year ago had finally come home. And try as they might, no government organization or otherworldly monster is gonna take her away. Not this time, not while he's around.

And that was a promise.

**Author's Note:**

> Here's the link to the prompt list: http://valbirch.tumblr.com/post/155496237518/40-prompts-list  
> Check it out if you're interested! (Love ya, val;D)


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